In its latest research report, the Standish Group has found that application modernisation projects have the highest likelihood of being completed on time, on budget and with all critical features included when compared to alternative approaches.

The new report, Modernisation: Clearing a Pathway to Success, delivers an objective comparison of the cost, risk and ROI associated with rewriting, buying a package, and modernising a particular order processing application. The study found that, in this situation, application modernisation had the highest likelihood (53 percent) of being completed on time, on budget and with critical features included. This compares to a 30 percent success rate for replacing the order processing application with a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) package and just four percent success when re-writing the application from scratch using the latest tools and techniques.

In a recent engagement with an organisation looking to improve its mission-critical order processing application, Standish drew a statistical picture of the data that closely matched the organisation’s proposed project. With that they predicted the expected resolution results, cost overrun and ROI experience for each of the three options. The current system in use by the organisation is estimated to cost the company in excess of $1.8 million per annum in lost orders, extra labour, and additional inventory.

Peter Gadd, VP modernisation at Micro Focus, commented on the findings: “This report delivers valuable insights into the challenges and success factors that need to be considered when undertaking any business-critical IT modernisation project. The research findings certainly support what we are hearing from many CIOs – that modernising mission-critical applications is often the lowest risk approach which returns value much faster than the alternatives. While no two projects are ever the same, we urge CIOs who are evaluating the best approach for their business-critical applications to read the research findings, as it includes information that could help determine which option makes the most business sense for their organisation.”

 “We have been studying the art of application development and project management since the early 1990s,” states Jim Crear, CIO of The Standish Group. “Whether you are developing an application from scratch, customising a software package or modernising an existing application, all options have their own attributes and challenges that need to be taken into consideration.

“Since modernisation projects are pre-optimised, requiring no process changes and little to no training, it is often the best route to take for business-critical applications. By definition, you get the same application you had before the project, but on a more flexible and less costly platform, making it easier to further improve the value it delivers to the organisation.”

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